Lee Pace

Lee: (On his Pushing Daisies character Ned) In the first episode he brings his childhood sweetheart Chuck back to life, but it's so frustrating because all he wants to do is kiss her. It would be sensible for Chuck to move as far away from Ned as possible because every minute she's with him is potential death, but they choose to be together because they're soulmates. Pushing Daisies is all about feeling life for the first time. Just as Chuck is brought to life, Ned is also brought to life because he'd lived in his quiet world with his pies and his dog Digby. But now he gets to go on these great adventures and to feel love for the first time.

Lee: (On Pushing Daisies) Yes, this show is very much about secrets and people who can't connect with each other. Ned can't touch anyone, Olive can't connect with the man she loves, and the aunts can't get out of their house. It's about people who can't connect and have lots and lots of secrets, and in the second season, we really start digging up those secrets.

Lee: (On his show Pushing Daisies) That's one thing I really love about doing this show, is that that we've got great, loyal fans -- people who watch all the episodes, who've been very supportive. It's been really nice. It's been a tricky year with the writers' strike and everything. I love working on this show, I like everyone I work with.

Lee: (Pushing Daisies not getting nominated for Best Comedy) You know, the thing is we've got 12 nominations, and that's really, really impressive for a show that was only on for nine episodes. So I'm grateful for that. You can't bellyache about the fact that one nomination [is missing] when you get 12.

Lee: (On getting nominated for an Emmy in 2008) Oh, it's nice! It was a nice surprise. I truly wasn't expecting it. My dog woke me up, because he wakes me up every morning to go on a hike. And then I looked at my messages and saw I had about 20, 30 messages. I remembered that it was Emmy nominations and figured I'd been nominated.

Lee: (on whether or not he has anything in common with Ned, his character on Pushing Daisies) Well, I don't bake pies, I don't bring people back from the dead and I really prefer to be able to touch the person I'm dating, so I'd have to say no.

Lee: I'd forgotten it's an important thing to give thought to your morality and how you intend to live your life.

Lee: (On filming around the world) That made it possible for me to make all these changes. Once it's unlocked, the world is really much smaller than you think.

Lee: (On playing a transsexual in Soldier's Girl) Not even my excellent training at Juilliard prepared me for my first movie role, where I played a transsexual who falls in love with a military guy in Soldier's Girl. Here I was, this 6'3" 190-pound lanky kid from Chickasha, Oklahoma, not knowing how to begin being a woman. So I saw documentaries about transsexuals, I lost twenty-five pounds, and I put on prosthetic boobs and hips to become that character. There were times I'd look in the mirror and wonder 'what am I doing to my life here? My dad is going to kill me!' But the reason I went into acting was to be able to play parts as complicated and important as this one. In playing a transsexual, I got the chance to help change people's perspective about other people and that is a powerful thing. I'm playing a swashbuckling bandit in my next film, but I'll always be proud of Soldier's Girl.

Lee: (Regarding his on-screen kiss with Troy Garity in Soldier's Girl) It was a little scary. A lot of that is Frank Pierson, how he shot the thing, because we were really nervous about it, not only doing it, but our mommas were going to see it. Laughs